Beauty + Fashion

Lesson 15 of 45

Setting Up Lighting

Beauty + Fashion

Lesson 15 of 45

Setting Up Lighting

Lesson Info

Setting Up Lighting

First I want to talk about our city and we're just doing beauty and beauty is just right here, so why don't I have are are seamless all the way down out to this point? Well, we have a floor here and everything fixed what pops up so I want make sure I have white underneath as well so I had the assistance pull out our seamless all the way out to this point I had the model back here so white is also reflected up a cz well, because anything in the room reflects the walls ceiling the floor so now we have a white floor and we're ready to set everything up. I have my sketch is my inspiration to keep me on target it's on a black flag and it stays on the set so I can see it and remind myself as I'm shooting that I'm doing this and I get carried away by other stuff also for the crew they can see it as well so we all stay on point so today our lives would be one simple light and john, can we bring in? You are one amazing light for the day remove this all set for the moment so john let's have our ...

light back here that's a great spot, so bring on our arm we have a vinger stan for boom arm now while they're setting up if you guys have any questions right now, it's the perfect time to take questions and I'm sure you guys can see as well, so I'm gonna move our sketch on the other side so you can see fully. All right, let's start with some questions. Elsa ki ha has asked, how do you manage to make someone you don't know? Feel at ease with you? That's a good question so how do I make a model who have never met feel at ease? Uh, it's in it's in the tone of your voice, it's in the music it's in everything you do for a moment, they walk in how you greet them right away um, taking away all their their fears just put them at ease, and I do that in a lot different ways is is having food the very simple things in the morning so we can have coffee or or or tea making sure that people greet them right away and offer them tea, coffee something to eat, you just greet them, make them feel at ease in the process will take all that away because everybody's nervous at first they're nervous being shot for the first time and meeting a photographer, having hair and makeup done so it's my job to take all that away and get their mind off that process of shooting and I think the posing thing also makes people nervous because like, oh, how will I pose how I do it? And I say I don't want to poles like oh it's not posing so what am I going to do? You're gonna be yourself and we'll capture you being yourself I'm always as I start speaking, also doing the shoot, you'll see how that process works so I believe that if you see later on a lot of fun no thanks for the question that's a great one would you like another one? Absolutely bring it on, okay? Art by veda had asked when shooting beauty is it best to have the model wearing matt clothing versus shiny or materials? Is the clothing itself a reflective surface? We're doing beauty, the clothing is secondary, so my hero for the shot is all here, so the clothing is minimal sometimes is just a strap to give the feeling of a wardrobe, but I don't want to focus on the what of it all is a matter of fact it's so secondary I wanna make sure that doesn't steal the show like you have a big movie and some actor comes in and steals the show from the main actor we don't want that I want the hero of the shot to be all here about the face nothing else matters today would you get cover our mark cover is all about beauty maybe we'll ask you that question tomorrow fashion shoot you know we'll do it on the verge variation today we do at clothing to it as well because a lot of covers where you have some great piece and it will be an accessory but just an accessory all right, let me ask another question uh michelle mcnichol why did you choose that spot there on the seamless backdrop? Why not closer to the white background? So why am I not back here versus being close? Well, if I'm back here with the model and shooting my life really affects the background light I don't want this to be lit I want to fall off so I have the distance from our main light sufficient off where it falls off I want to show you how to use one light and get different effects as a matter fact listening that right now so on every shoot I have my sense coming and set up and I look at the set and then I tweak it so I'm gonna do some tweaking now this is all wrong this take them off with second can I have another apple box also? So this is all working area, so you'll bring it back in my suite that your setting that up I can't imagine like oprah and queen latifah sitting on an apple box what your standard tools for comfort nomad have them sitting on a stool like the most headed si on right now I think it's probably more comfortable and she used the apple box either forefoot or with the apple boxes of main seat whatever feels comfortable, I don't want to have a children back on it gets in the way good question, though, of the questions guys, didn't you wanted to give him a hand there and you set down so that you could see exactly where the light web soling I'm staying behind the light and looking at him and trying to adjust it I can't get it right, but he sees the light exactly as it is and then we're good to go way to have another stool in the corner this used those versus these and then khun just the height accordingly so on our makeup, while my guys had only setting up, I'm always checking on hair and makeup and seeing how they're doing that's looking really beautiful that's looking really beautiful law and you look amazing the transformation has begun so first this morning we had a conversation and I showed our talent all the sketches, the idea we talked about our first shot there about the surprise shots that you'll see later on ask me a lot of fun, we have a great team here amazing model laura with being transformed right now that's so beautiful so we had discussion about props normally in a lot of covers you would see it where the models very clean and laura has a nose ring it's going to make this decision to either stay with it or not and for traditional magazine you take it out but I like the age of the nose ring and it's different and it's new and exciting and I think I'll keep it in today for first shot it's all about the face a little bit about age it's very nice matthew, can I ask you another question? Absolutely. This is from slow pl why are using this size of beauty dish ah this is a standard size that pro photo makes there are larger ones as well there's a mole a dish that's fight twice the size of this light and the mullah dish being this big throws light from here to here and this beauty dish is storing light here here which I like it's more concentrated I love this one. When I first started working as a photographer I used the big moola dish as a beautiful light by prefer this one that's all yes personal taste find out what you like and through testing the lights and figure out what looks good you find what you like so we have our subject here way have a stool for him stew for me the light looks good here can you raise it just one inch for me thank you stay right there don't look at the light as it goes up group more right there right there that's a good looking lad on him that's perfect so the scent of the light is white on you beautiful okay take it tweak it up just a tad perfect so light was hitting him here and we had a small adjustment just raise it up one inch to bring it right there now it's the sweet spot the center spot is right here in his face visually so how do we know where are correct we'll take a meter reading for the day was shooting at s o two hundred which is the native so in the camera we're using a sunny a nine hundred full frame body and we'll go through metering that's very even that's what I want I didn't make a small adjustment though I want to make sure I'm shooting a bit more someone go up two thirds sixteen year old that's nice we've got one more third so I am around like sixteen to sixteen three hopefully john doesn't john doesn't actually have a mic I like how the mall's me tearing himself that's maybe you could just shut out the go that's what I want sixteen three sweet spot sixteen to sixteen one in that family I'm within a third so I'm shooting beauty now and the meters give me a reading meters don't think we said this yesterday meters don't think they react I'm shooting beauty so I wanna make sure I'm overexposing just a tad too open the skin not sixteen three I'm sure yet sixteen now, so I'm going to overexpose it by one third that's it any questions about that? So I know it probably be a lot of questions about the reading and the exposure that will use yes on dh a couple people goal in dubai and neil are asking, why f sixteen y f sixteen versus eleven or eight that's all personal I when I get my cameras and lenses and every cameras different, if you have ten cameras by the same manufacturer, the same camera, you shoot each camera f sixteen, it would look a little different, so I test my cameras all my lenses. I should have sixteen if eleven f eight, five, six four to eight, and do the same thing with every lens to find out how it really looks. So through testing, I know that f sixteen on this camera with a certain limbs is amazing and sweet. So today we're using for the first shot an eighty five calls ice lens on the sony a nine hundred, so you kind of you're kind of answering this, but I just wantedto he was shut out to laura camera rata who had asked do you have to make an average of the media ring the parts of the face I believe and the reason why we were meeting all over the face I want to make sure that the lights even delete nears one space in one place say the lights off six wears off a little bit it falls off the light is going in this direction I wouldn't know that unless I mean it all over the face so I meet a ring here here here here here I know where the light's falling and then we have our shot leslie like a small one inch move so jeff the king is asking if you could clarify what what do you mean when you say sixteen one sixteen to immigration ok so when you have your meter you have a tenth of a stop so you're getting not just f eleven so you have f eleven but you hold on one sec you have f eleven and f sixteen the ten tents in between from eleven to sixteen so sixteen one sixteen to sixteen three sixty four sixty five all the way twenty to the next stop so you have those tents and those are very important it's not guess and a brand new assistant will give me a reading and say I was sixteen mike sixteen what sixteen seven and like that's a big difference as almost a full stop so I want to know the tints sixteen one sixteen to sixteen three where is it exactly? Not guessing exactly it makes a big difference yes, uh see confusion and people now? Because a camera show like eleven, thirteen, fifteen and sixteen right thirteen is really eleven in two thirds eleven and one third rather fifteen mobile eleven and two thirds or eleven point six so when we say eleven point to eleven point three it's really going to be probably thirteen on your camera back in the days when we start exactly which way we had we had eleven sixteen and there was two clicks between so is easy to say eleven into third eleven and a half so now people go no the numbers in between and gets really confusing because that's very true that means don't show that the millions read it as being film in the old days that's a very good point think saying that so when all the cameras today they're reading in thirds so you'll have f sixteen and the next click would be from sixteen f eighteen, which is sixteen and a third sixteen point three so you have to know that by looking at the meter because it has ah it reads also the bottom where you are you must have a meter you must have a meter looking at the back of the camera on lee and reading the history rams is not good enough not if you wanna be professional and perfect the craft and no light no light like the back of your hand you most you must know it which you just answered pierre smith question which was if you don't have a meter can use the picture out of the camera to judge your lighting absolutely not can you use the back of your camera to judge your exposure make sure that I am having of court there thank you I am tethered here something sure I have enough line so the back of your camera is not for doing anything but making sure you have a great image gets in the ballpark it's not exactly it's not meant for judging exposure just to view the shot just to view the shot and every camera have a different image on the bag you can't judge your image by the back of the camera great question thank you for that one other questions shall we go on yes uh digital purposes er as well uh lost the name of the other person but had you had earlier said you're looking teo open up the skin for the model what does that mean uh so what do I mean by say open up the skin taking this back to you for a second a meter is giving me an average exposure and that that average exposure may be great for a typical shot but for beauty I want a little brighter so bye bye opening up I mean a little brighter I'm going if I shoot him exactly as the meter says I'll get a great exposure but for beauty photography where I want the skin to look a tad better a little more open I'm going to open it up just a smidgen just a tad just a third that's it I'm giving us a little bit more light, so from sixteen to sixteen one two, three a third open the remainder reading is giving me sixteen three I'm shooting at sixteen just a little bit, but that little bit makes a big difference it's night and day really so when people looking at your work, the judging, your work against everybody else out there and everybody else is shooting at f sixteen because the meter says so and then I see your work like something's different I can't figure out what it is is that small third difference that's what it is is that small in minute but your client's concede that your work looks different. Anybody else's what is it, it's? That exact difference questions question from neil neil says matthew talks about looking for the sweet spot when testing cameras lenses in apertures realizing this is subjective, any comments on what he looks for one searching for the sweet spot yeah with concentration the light is hitting where it's being concentrated I call that the sweet spot my own little term there and uh thanks for that question so I want the the sweet spot to be in the center of the face the concentration of the light the hottest spot in the center of the face not down here off to the side the light is being at one spot as the sweet spot and then going out so f sixteen three here sixteen two hears he seemed to hear sixteen one hear the sweet spot is right here cool thank you question from bob uk how does the light position differ between a man and a now that is a great question and how does the light position differ on a man and a woman I would not shoot a man this way I want this light to be beautiful on a woman and soft very little shadows I want porcelain skin for man I can show more texture so if I'm shooting john and doing a portrait of john I would take my light a little tot higher giving me more texture in the skin so let's do it uh experiment here can I steal so we hear we have a plain sheet of paper but it has texture imagine this is your skin can you hold that right there eleven seven so this is a great test to do when your camera as the light goes up, you have more texture as it goes to the side. You get more texture as I bring it down and gets more even it's hard to see this play on video camera right now in the audience if you do this test at home and find the spot where it looks flat, then you have soft light for a guy I take my lights the side more to get even more texture or higher to get more texture and more shadowing rugged, rough, manly forewoman I want soft and delicate and sexy, so today we're going with beautiful skin our hero today is skin, so play around at home if you don't have a motive, shoot, grab something with texture and do this test. Shoot one image with the light, the light low break it up two inches should another shot take it up two more inches and do another shot and look at all three images in light room at one hundred percent and c we have texture and no texture, it's a great tests and teaches you a lot about light. The same thing happens. We take the light and move off to the side. This is like the sun, so now we're shooting at sunset when I bring light higher through the afternoon. Higher I'ma tune afternoon even overhead at twelve noon which is ugly light above him I don't want that I look for that sunset time of day. That angle of light where it's beautiful. Thanks, john. Get us back to our makeup artist matthew I know we talked about different skin tones yesterday, but crystal in chicago is asking, so if you're opening up by a third for beauty, do you then open up by an additional third for darker skin tones? Oh, I would open up initial third eyed pride go from sixteen three to sixteen five that's a very good correct question. So if it's me versus him there, I shoot it at had the meter reading sixteen five and I shoot sixteen don't take more questions absolutely there's so many uh okay, so infra infrared and for a red icka sorry, do you prefer a white or a silver beauty dish? And why? And then does that does that differ by male female that's a great question while I prefer because the beauty comes in white and silver we're using white today can I turn this off mine light wise and flip it around? We're using white today, silver is a harder service and I would use the silver on a man I would not use it on a woman that's a great question why the silver is is a harder source and gives more texture and if you want a soft look with a punch to it, more texture go with that look, I prefer the white one I've done tests with the silver and the white of the silver on men like the white on women that's my personal tastes and that comes from testing the light and finding out what you like. I've done my test to figure out what I like, what I like maybe very difficult what you like testing shows you what's perfect for you and your brand of photography great question, absolutely ah, I don't have a light on the background so what color am I trying to get? I want to fall off being a soft grade and then make a smaller just to make it even deeper grey and add more drama to the shot without changing the light. Too much listening that right now actually let's see what it looks like with no background light at all, so we'll readjust our light against I've been changing around a little bit sixteen zero eleven I made two adjustment there, so let me be that is the sweet spot in your face or they're sixteen one eleven nine you know that bird back one click on the pack sixteen three beautiful sixteen one sixteen one so as we're shooting throughout the day things happen with like it's moved by mistake you even notice that when the model moves or something happens so my crew is always going in and testing the light again to make sure everything is consistent throughout the day when I just testing in the first thing in the morning we're doing it the entire day so before the mall's come out on set my crew were testing the light tweaking it once we have our exposure done we're doing a color checker we're doing gray and we're doing the colors well in manual going too f sixteen at one twenty fourth of a second there's another element that we want to use your model I'm doing this first chick the call check it first like this before he and the other element I'm using eighty five limbs the perfect portrait limbs way got make sure we turned everything on first it's our first shot then with the color beautiful then I have my test for the color my two shots I'm only doing that on my crew now I want to bring in our small see stan and the small reflector several folks matthew are asking about the wattage of the light that way have a twenty hundred watt pack which is a lot of power you don't need that all the time I would be fine using a twelve hundred watt pack smaller I have it dow down but I still have sixteen I could probably f forty five out of this pack if I wanted to very easily but I would kill the model and we don't want that not literally killed the model but it would be hard on her to stay there as this light is flashing in your face if sixteen is down pretty low it is a good amount of power coming through twin flower between four hundred watt seconds seven ah a pack pro photo now you always shoot handheld or did you use tripods and your that's a good question do I use tripods? Well, I like shooting hand held I like shooting hand held so I can move around I'm free to move I'm using a bigger medium format camera or food by five camera I'm definitely tripod but for thirty five I like the freedom of movement for a long time before digital came about we were shooting medium format film cameras and on tripods and I love now that could shoot thirty five format and had the freedom of movement again and I get not having a different experience now shooting I have that freedom now that's a great question thank you for that when you're doing a black background do you do the same setup or change? If I did a black background with the same set up absolutely absolutely find it black here or gray here I would have the same thing one light one set up very simple and because it's one light you can change this man if it weighs it's one light I can make it look for different ways if I wanted very easily so what does this look like? Can we put a longer arm? One here is trade one the arms from the so this little reflector is my favorite uh tools to use and john look straight for four second look at john if you go in really close on john's face without the filled with the field without it with it I like the small one because give me a small little that's great then you come back this up once we have that on their best perfect one's good that's that's fine, good. So now we can place that as a no kicker toe add that little special something under the eyes a bigger reflector you can't get in that close and the reflection is much bigger as well, which I don't like personally so I love these small ones because give me just a little bit of reflection coming up into the eyes and it's small enough we're getting close if I need to so I also use the silver versus the white white side to give you something but not much it's very subtle the silver gives me just enough questions I want to be's isaac napoleon had asked you ever shoot with a grid on your beauty dish when why and why not absolute method we're about to do that yes I do it's a different look and I'll show you that that look shortly but it's a beautiful look and sometimes appropriate for men I like it sometimes for women but not one beauty and you'll see the difference why shortly on john and I look amazing so we'll do that shot shortly I'll show you the shot without the view dish without the grid and then with the grid getting wired it for sound good so we can talk now can I ask you another question? Okay gets wired yes bernice appear oh and steve hamel both asked your studio has large window does the ambient light have an impact on how you take it easy man that's a good question today we're in seattle and it's overcast and uh maybe even raining so it's not really concerned um I mean you see I want make sure it's not gonna overpower it was a sunny day in l a we'll block it out because I've not had a sun coming in and taking over and causing shadows and light I don't care about today so much because overcast day in seattle so I'm definitely way over it my power from the stroller by the f sixteen the ambient light in here is probably two point eight or less great question that also, thanks for those kind of questions, I think, another one weather setting him up. Okay, there was quite a few questions about the color checker and five snake just like you to explain. What exactly is it for? S o color in digital, every every martyr, every cameras, different. I didn't make sure that my colors correct. So by using the choluteca passport, I can find out a neutral color. And then I could make it warmer or colder as I see fit.

Class Description

Join Matthew Jordan Smith as he delves into three days dedicated to fashion and beauty photography.
Matthew starts off with an in-depth discussion on the differences in fashion and beauty as he teaches us how to prepare for a series of live photoshoots with a focus on capturing beautiful photography and telling a story with your images.

a Creativelive Student

Thanks Matthew for the super informative courses. I'm from Thailand and I'm very impress with the way you speak. It is super clear and very easy to understand. Your answers to each questions are extremely inspirational. I think you are the best teacher on photographing so far on Creative Live. Each of your answers and information are very motivational and very thoughtful. Thanks again for this great Live broadcast. You are a great teacher and a very nice warm person as well.

a Creativelive Student

Thanks Matthew this two days have been amazing, and I am looking forward for the last day,,in which you will be talking aobut the photography i would like to do, since is my dream to be a fashion photographer i have learn a lot from you, and this expirience has been amazing, if i only lived in L.A. and not mexico city, i would definitely write you a letter and try to be your assistant to learn as much as possible from such and amazing photogrpher and person; once angain thanks for everything.
Thamks creativelive for bringing this amazing photographers, and letting us learn more and more about the amazing world of photogrphy.

a Creativelive Student

This course has been an awesome experience. I have learned so much about the process of beauty and fashion photography. Matthew takes the viewer through the preliminary thought process. He not only covers the technical aspects but also the importance of the photographic team itself--the stylist, makeup artist, model and photo assistants. The photographer plus the team equals magic.
I do not use the term amazing lightly. This man is AMAZING and INSPIRING! Thanks to Matthew, I feel confident that I will find my own vision.